The present invention relates to communication network management. In particular, but not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to systems and methods for error detection in a communication network.
In the competitive telecommunications industry it is advantageous to identify communication network troubles quickly and get them resolved as soon as possible. This requires quick and reliable error detection and isolation to ensure network integrity and maintain both customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
In communication networks, it is not uncommon for an interface component (e.g. an interface card) to become defective. Previously known techniques for diagnosing whether an interface component is defective typically perform signal quality monitoring at the interface component. If a degraded signal is monitored, the previously known techniques perform diagnostic testing, which includes disconnecting communication lines connected to the interface component, and bridging the communication lines to a protection interface component.
After the communication lines are bridged, the diagnostic testing determines whether the degraded signal persists at the protection interface component. If the degraded signal does not persist at the protection interface component, then the diagnostic testing confirms that the interface component is defective. Otherwise, if the degraded signal persists at the protection interface component, then the diagnostic testing confirms that the degraded signal is related to a defective component in the network other than the interface component.
The diagnostic testing is problematic because it assumes that the protection interface component is not defective. As discussed above, if the degraded signal persists at the protection interface component, then the diagnostic testing confirms that the degraded signal is related to a defective component in the network other than the interface component. This confirmation would be incorrect if the protection interface component is defective (i.e. if the protection interface component is defective, it will always show a degraded signal).
Accordingly, previously known diagnostic testing is not configured to determine whether the protection interface component is defective. There exists a need for diagnostic testing that determines whether the protection interface component is not defective.